Aderthorarystwyth/game reports
Spain on level 100 Spain is easily the closest to the western provinces of the New World, but it has only one open range and is lowest-equal (with Portugal) in number of grain farms and is one of the four GPs with no local horses. Would be really impossible to win on 400 and probably well-nigh impossible on 200. Robin's record of the first part of a game (transcribed from pencil notes, with some additions) ;1502 :Only one good place for capital. Lots of grain near it, so we order two peasants right away. :We have our own timber supply already, with lots more close, so we bid for wool, iron, and horses. (With the shortage of GP horses, the price may go up, so we will get in early if we are lucky.) :Order second Explorer - to help find our iron as soon as possible then try the NW. :Research: target Apprentice Workers because of our grain disadvantage. Curiously, none of the researchable techs show up in green. Presumably the "tech" that involves merely discovering sugar cane is the only base prerequisite and doesn't show up because it's not researchable. Start researching Diplomacy, Merchant Co's, and Mine Engineering, each 10 turns at $100. :Trade consulates in Scotland and Italy because they are next door and therefore the ones we could most usefully annex if we had a pact and were invited to defend (and we do the embassy and pact things ASAP). also consulates in Denmark and Switzerland because of good product match. ;First few turns :Build road generally eastward to serve lots of grain and timber. Keep on bidding for same things until money too low. Horses are, surprisingly, offered by several GPs - don't they realise they should be buying instead? The price drops, and we keep bidding but not always buying. Our choice of what else to bid for is set partly by the profit margin on the resulting product. Bronze tends to be a favourite seller because the prices of copper and/or tin tend to be low. ;1512 :First New World attack: Portugal takes Carib from Taino: Arq and Kts v Spearman (killed) and Archers. It's remarkably close to Holland and France. They may have found NW before we did. One sea - most unusually, I think - has both an Old World coast and a New World coast. ;1514 :England ratings Poor/Good, we and others Good/Good. ;1516 :Diplomatic Expertise. Order third Explorer. ;1520 :Find first iron. ;1526 :Order two peasants. ;1528 :Labor 8. Shipping 3 timber, 1 iron, 9 grain, 7 meat; needing 7+7. Ratings Fair/Good (same as England), with all others Good/Good. You never get credit for raising your Labor number until the year after you have first produced with them. ;1532 :Find first NW capital: Pueblo. ;1536 :Merchant Companies ;1540 :Portugal Excellent/Good, England Fair/Good, rest of us G/G. ;1544 :Find our third iron - on the last possible tile, which will take ages to reach. Cast iron price 231 and iron ore 110, with profit therefore a remarkably low figure of $11 - one of two reasons why we are not offering C.I. ;1548 :Portugal is the first to find gold or silver. Accept France's request for alliance - they seem to be a fairly average sort of nation and would not be good to have as an enemy because of our long border. ;1550 :Find iron near Edinburg, very close to us. Time to order that Merchant! ;1552 :Start port up-river, to get three fish and allow multiple developments on three adjacent tiles if the transport system hasn't already facilitated that. ;1556 :Pay $263 for developed tin mine at Edinburg - at the rate we have been buying, the discounts should pay for that in very short order. Order 2 peasants. Bid for Sugar cane, noting with interest that England offers it. ;1558 :Labor 10. ;1560 :Superior Hull Design. Portugal Excellent/Awesome; the rest of us G/G. Bought tin for $79 and got cut of $45, which will pay off the land cost in 6 turns. This turn, our interest bill was $46, which took the shine off!!! ;1562 :Order 2 peasants. ;1564 :Labor 12 (shipping 9+10 food, needing 9+9). Carrack has seen all the NW coast and heads south to where we have explored enough to decide that we might start invading. ;1568 :Pay $353 for undeveloped iron resource in Scotland. Order first Fluyte, having ordered a peasant on previous turn. Good/Good (like 3 others); Sweden G/Exc (which could be dangerous), Por Exc/G. ;1570 :Our explorer is the first to find "Gems or Diamonds" - in north-east of southern NW. Animal Husbandry. Capture Guadalupe (a prelude to capturing its capital). Carrack heads east and north to be close to the inland diamond province. ;1574 :Order 2 peasants. Sweden DW on France. Ouch - we are G/Fair, so's France, while Swe is still G/Exc; and our NW activities are all close to Swedish provinces: sorry, France, timing is rotten, so we are not honouring our alliance. Maybe we will join in later. ;1576 :Labor 14. ;1578 :Order 2 Kts ;1580 :Sugar Refining - so now we see the price of the product, which could be a great money-spinner. Capture Caribbia (capital): Pik, Arq, 3 Kts v 2 Club, 5 Spearmen (2k), 2 Arch: $2,166. ;1582 :Order 2 peasants. Good/Excellent! - so just two knights took us from fair to excellent! Pay $606 for horses next to Edinburg (continuing to find that spelling error annoying). ;1584 :Pay $504 for Florence's developed iron mine. Labor back up to 14. Sweden fails to take Timucua from Fra. ;1588 :Capture Brisbane (next to the diamonds). ;1590 :Mine Engineering. Order Fluyte and a regt of Kts. Labor 12. ;1592 :Capture Peabody with its diamonds. Find more diamonds south of nearby Mul. Pay $242 for developed sheep farm at Edinburg (which may get us some royalties even if we aren't buying much wool). Swe fails at Ayacucha: Fra is defending well! ;1596-98 :Accept latest alliance request from Fra, because we can see weaknesses in Sweden's NW holdings. France walks (off a ship) into Penthar, cutting the Swedish chain of provinces. ;1598-1600 :Saw Mill. Order 2 peasants. Capture Detroit from Swe: spoils consist of 1 sugar cane. France and Swe make peace; strange that Swe didn't ask us for peace also or instead. England allies with Holland. Sweden has researched Horse Artillery. But Swe grovels: sorry, we are on a roll and we haven't finished with you despite your tech advantage; you started this, so you have only yourselves to blame! France allies with Hol and Eng. ;1600-02 :Order 2 peasants - maybe stretching our food demands but there's plenty in the warehouse and we can see ways of increasing the intake. Fra now has Horse Artillery. Capture (Swe) Toronto, killing two Arq and stealing Recruit Steppe Horsemen. ;1602-04 :Labor 16 but we will be ordering more Kts soon. ;1604-06 :Swe takes Ottawa from Huron: Pik, 4 Bow (1k), HorA v 3 Sp (1k), 2 Arch. ;1606-08 :Copper and Tin Mining. Capture Ottawa from Swe, killing half of their units: Pik, Arq, 2 Bow. No loot. Portugal DW on France, with Eng and Hol doing what we did - breaking alliance. ;1608-10 :Order 2 Kts. Walk into (Swe) Montreal, leaving Swe with just 2 NW provs, together on north coast of south island. Portugal fails to take Timucua. ;1610-12 :Por fails at Ayacucha. ;1612-14 :Walk into (Swe) Abmear. Por walks into Timucua, while France takes the more valuable (Por) Carib, killing a Pike regt. ;1614-16 :Walk into Thurston (Swe) (which the blighters had abandoned, leaving us with a bill for $700) - no loot! Por takes Ayacucha (Pik v Pik - maybe France's Pik was battle-weary). "Military Victories Strengthen New Units". First diamonds are mined with a road and are paying. Portugal has Horse Artillery. ;1618 :Apprentice Workers. We have only two explorers; I guess they die when an enemy captures a native province, whereas when a GP we are not at war with does it they just go home. ;1620 :Labor 18 (14 + 1x4) ;1624 :Horse Artillery. ;1632 :Sugar Planting. Capture Angermanland. Por takes Carib, knocking Fra out of NW. ;1634 :Iron Mining ;1638 :Organized Regiments. ;1640-42 :Fail at Stockholm, losing our upgraded Lancer but destroying the fort. Bring two minor units in to join the mob in Angermanland; feel happy that our survivors seemed to be less injured than the Swedish defenders. Watch this space. Category:Game reports (Imp2) category:Aderthorarystwyth Category:Map keys (Imp2)